"After working with this company for approximately two
years, we had some consistent performance and delivery problems," assistant
county attorney Lindsay Kandra told the County Board of Commissioners on Thursday.

By then, county officials had already paid Colorado
Customware $2 million. They stopped making payments, but continued to work with
the company for two more years. They
extended the project's timeline seven times, but by last spring -- four years
into the work -- Multnomah County still did not have functioning software.

County officials have declined to discuss the matter, but
public records show Colorado Customware refused to continue working unless the
county made more payments. County officials terminated the contract on May 8.

"It became clear that they weren't going to be able to
perform their obligations under the agreement," Kandra said Thursday.

As The Oregonian reported Wednesday, it would be almost
impossible for Multnomah County to recoup its money from Colorado Customware by
suing the company while it is bankrupt.

Colorado Customware filed for bankruptcy last July, with
more than $10 million in debt to a long list of creditors. Suing a bankrupt
company is difficult, and even if the county won, Colorado Customware wouldn't
be able to pay damages.

Although the company gained $3.25 million last year in a
sale to Canada's N. Harris Computer Corp., that money is unlikely to trickle
down the list of creditors far enough to reach Multnomah County.

Other
governments including Colorado's Boulder and Larimer counties and Salt Lake County, Utah, have tangled with
Colorado Customware over similar issues. Both Boulder and Larimer counties are
awaiting payments from settlements they arranged with the company before it
went bankrupt.

"We're
not expecting to see any of it," Boulder County assistant attorney Mike
Doherty said.